


The Dark Gate

by QueerCosette



Series: On Se Sent Comme Par Magie [4]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Battle Scenes, F/M, Fae & Fairies, Ghosts, M/M, Magic, Marriage Proposal, Non-Binary Jean Prouvaire, Other, Supernatural Illnesses, Swords, Trans Feuilly, Witches, Wizards
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:15:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24507505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueerCosette/pseuds/QueerCosette
Summary: With Félix Tholomyès gone and Patron-Minette imprisoned more securely than last time, Cosette and Les Amis have decided to continue the quest to find Fantine. Unfortunately, Cosette’s Enchantix power is still dangerously incomplete, and it looks like if they want to save Fantine, they’ll have to enter Obsidian - a shadowy dimension inhabited by the spirits of the three ancient Witches who destroyed Domino 18 years ago.
Relationships: Bahorel/Éponine Thénardier, Combeferre/Courfeyrac (Les Misérables), Cosette Fauchelevent/Marius Pontmercy, Enjolras/Grantaire (Les Misérables), Fantine/Félix Tholomyès (past), Feuilly/Jean Prouvaire, Joly/Musichetta
Series: On Se Sent Comme Par Magie [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/971967
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	1. In Which Cosette's Quest Comes To An End Too Soon

**Author's Note:**

> Only a month and a half of hiatus? It must be a miracle.
> 
> I love everyone who has commented and kudos'd this series so far, and I hope y'all are staying safe!!!
> 
> (Look out for my reference to my current musical obsession towards the end of this chapter ;D)

Six cloaked figures appeared out of thin air on the rain-lashed cliffside, gazing up at the fortress before them. This was the best lead they had, and in spite of the lifeless woods behind them, the entire structure pulsed with magic, so they knew this was the place they were looking for.

“Hopefully she’s still alive,” the leading figure said. “And if so, hopefully she knows more than we do about –” she cut herself off, curling in on herself as a heavy coughing fit wracked her body, and the figure next to her reached out a gloved hand to rub her back.

“If you’re not up to this –”

“I’m up to this,” the leader said firmly. “It’s just a cold, I’m sure. Let’s go.”

The group approached the great wrought iron gate, and as though it had sensed them approaching, parts of it began glowing with pale blue magic, that shaped itself into a great coat-of-arms – an open book with an illustration of a sword on one side, and a sprouting Dill plant on the other. The group’s leader reached out and touched her hand to the bottom corner of the page on the right, as if to turn it to the next page. A few seconds later, the magic pulsed across the book, making it appear as though she really had turned the page, and the gates swung open, with a creak that suggested they hadn’t actually been opened since they were built.

They passed through the gates into a high-ceilinged vestibule with stone walls, and headed for a set of wooden doors that stretched up to the ceiling and opened with a push. These doors led into a long stone hallway, so dark they couldn’t see how long it went on for.

“Hello?” the second figure called out, his voice echoing in the gloom. “Anybody home?”

Silence for a moment, then his question was met with several metallic thuds, coming from both sides all down the hallway. The room was suddenly lit up with the blue light from the tips of a hundred magical spears, carried by a hundred sentient suits of armour, all turning towards them.

“You always have to ask, don’t you?” one of the figures, another girl, glared at the second figure, who grimaced under his hood.

“Is anybody _else_ home?” he asked, sounding somewhat apprehensive this time.

The leader cast off her cloak, sending her long blonde hair cascading down her back. “Mes Amis!” she shouted. “Transform. Amis Enchantix!”

In a swirl of blue, pink and gold, she wore a short blue dress shimmering with all the colours of the rainbow, pale pink elbow-length gloves, and blue footless sandals. Her hair instantly grew to ankle-length and was pinned back from her face with glittering blue hearts, and her blue-edged wings glittered pink and green. Her blue Faery Dust bottle hung around her neck, and she fluttered into the air with a cry of “Cosette, Faery of the Dragon Flame!”

The second figure transformed in a blaze of red, gold and black; he wore a criss-crossing red and black top with a matching warrior’s skirt and the same footless sandals. His gloves were silver, a belt of blue diamonds glittered at his waist, and his long blond curls were held out of his face with a cluster of silvery stars. His wings were blue and gold, and a tiny star-shaped Faery Dust bottle glittered at his throat. “Enjolras, Faery of the Shining Sun!”

The girl who had chastised him wore a pink, purple and blue top and skirt shot through with golden thread; her sandals, gloves, choker and wings were also gold, as were the ribbons woven into her brownish-black hair. Her Faery Dust bottle was magenta and blue. “Éponine, Faery of Music!”

The fourth to transform was neither a boy nor a girl, and their long ginger hair was twisted into space-buns held in place by bright pink hair clips and a wonderfully tacky blue tiara. They wore a shimmering green, blue and purple tube top underneath a sparkly pink playsuit that matched their gloves. Their sandals were green, and their wings started out pink, fading to green at the edges. Their Faery Dust bottle took the form of a flower-shaped pink pendant. “Jehan, Faery of Nature!”

The fifth person, another boy, transformed in a flash of lilac, green and blue light, and wore a lilac tube top and shorts underneath a set of shimmering blue and green armour that matched his sandals. His gloves were blue, and a streak of lilac appeared amongst his short brown curls, held back from his face with a green hairclip. His purple wings were three pronged, and his purple Faery Dust bottle hung from a green choker. “Courfeyrac, Faery of Technology!”

Last to transform was another girl, with wild scarlet curls held back by a shimmering diadem. She wore a green tube top and a matching skirt that glittered in yellow, lilac and pink undertones, with a matching belt. Her gloves, sandals and choker were pale yellow, her Faery Dust bottle was pale green, and her wings were bubblegum pink and edged in green. “Musichetta, Faery of Waves!”

“Magnetic Storm!” Courfeyrac shouted, and a blast of green light shattered the nearest suits of armour, clearing a way forward, but more of the magical guards immediately moved into their fallen fellows’ place.

“Ocean of Light!” Enjolras cried, sending more guards reeling with a wave of pure sunlight. Two guards were baring down on Musichetta, but with a clap of her hands the water molecules in the air had shaped themselves into a shield. The guards brought their spears down on it, but they simply bounced off it. Both suits of armour stumbled backwards, giving Musichetta enough time to reshape her shield into a staff. She wasted no time in slashing both guards through the middle with it, making both suits of armour collapse with a somewhat magical, somewhat electrical crackle.

“Grabbing Ivy!” At Jehan’s command, enormous vines sprouted from the floor, wrapping around and effectively immobilising most of the guards. Musichetta used her staff to shatter a third guard, but her attention was caught by Cosette hovering above the bound suits of armour.

“Time to turn up the heat!” Cosette muttered, and a jet of flame appeared in her hands, growing to wrap around her entire body. Musichetta glanced back at the battle, and her eyes widened as three of the guards flung their spears right at Cosette, spinning through the air with deadly accuracy.

“Sonic Shield!” Éponine cried. Her spell knocked two of the spears out of the air, but the third was still spinning towards Cosette, and Musichetta flung herself recklessly into the air between Cosette and the weapon.

She got lucky; it was the handle of the spear that struck her, rather than the point, and she fell to the ground with a pained groan, her chest aching where it had hit, but thankfully still in one piece.

The fire around Cosette immediately went out, and she dived down to where Musichetta had landed, immediately checking her over for serious injuries. “Are you OK?” she asked frantically. Musichetta nodded.

“It hurts, but I’ll be fine.”

Cosette helped her to her feet, passing her over to Éponine, who was much better at shield charms, before taking off again. Meanwhile, Enjolras and Jehan were fighting side by side, Jehan using their vines to fling the enchanted suits of armour one at a time into the air and Enjolras promptly skeet-shooting them apart with sunlight. But however many they destroyed, the guards seemed to keep coming, occasionally managing to cut through the vines holding them back.

“We need to take them out once and for all,” Enjolras grunted. “Courf, we need a lock on their power source!”

“I’m trying!” Courfeyrac replied, eyes closed as he focussed. “But whoever set this up really knew what they were doing with the protection spells. I’m going to have to hack their magical firewall!”

“Please hurry,” Jehan panted. “Every time one of them cuts through my vines, it feels like I’m getting a paper cut.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” Éponine said, but Jehan groaned quietly.

“One, sure. Twenty in a row, not so much.”

“I’m in!” Courfeyrac exclaimed. “Their power source should be behind… _that wall!”_ He pointed at the wall on the right, and Cosette flew towards it.

“OK everyone, stand back!” she warned, and the Amis all fluttered to the left side of the hall. “Dragon Fire!”

A blast of flames swept the hall, knocking the guards off their feet and clearing a path for Cosette to get to the wall. She landed in front of it just as the guards were beginning to stir, and raised her hands. “Fusion Fire!”

The spell melted the wall in an instant, revealing what seemed to be an engine room of some sort, inside which was a machine that looked like half train engine, half radio. Cosette stepped into the room, once again forming a flame between her palms and allowing it to wrap around her body. “Full Dragon Energy!”

The flames washed over the machine, and she could hear several clanks from the hall that indicated the remaining guards had collapsed, followed by the magical crackle as they shut off.

Cosette stepped back out of the room, pausing to cough again before accepting the high-five Enjolras was offering her.

“An entire army of killer robots reduced to scrap metal in less than five minutes,” he grinned. “Now, that’s what I call teamwork.”

“Are you kidding?” Éponine laughed. “What we do is, like, the next level up from teamwork. We should patent it.”

“Hold that thought,” Courfeyrac said, eyes still closed. “Now that the firewalls are down, I’ve detected a living presence up ahead.”

“That’s got to be her,” Cosette muttered. “And if she’s been in exile here for the past seventeen years, she probably won’t react too happily to visitors, so stay alert.”

* * *

At the end of the huge hallway was another door – not a double door this time, but more the kind that might lead into an inhabited room rather than a hallway. Above it was the same coat-of-arms that had been on the gate, and Cosette glanced back at her friends before pushing it open and gazing into a room of inky blackness.

“Baptistine, Nymph of Protection?” she asked the darkness, stepping over the threshold. “Are you here?” She took a few steps forward, and realised she could no longer see even her own hands in front of her face. “Enjolras, could you give us some light?”

“Sure,” Enjolras said behind her. “Hang on. Sunlight!”

The room was bathed in light by the golden orb that appeared between his palms, but as Cosette’s eyes adjusted, she suddenly found herself wishing they’d let it remain dark.

A shining silver sword was barely two inches away from her throat, pointing directly at her collarbone. Cosette’s eyes slowly travelled along the blade to a gloved hand, up a navy sleeve, past shimmering silver armour and a glittering pearl necklace, and into the furious blue eyes of an old lady with white hair so bright it seemed to glow.

“Take another step,” she said coldly, “and it will be your last.”

* * *

Outside on the rain-lashed cliffs, yet another cloaked figure appeared out of thin air and squinted up at the fortress with a sad chuckle.

“So this is where you’ve been all this time,” he murmured. “I just hope I’m not too late.”

* * *

“You and your friends have invaded my fortress and destroyed my guards,” the old lady continued, the sword as steady as could be. Looks really were no indication of strength, Cosette supposed. “But you will not have such luck against _me.”_ She drew back the sword, and Cosette found herself unable to move with sheer terror – but suddenly the air in front of her glowed lilac, and someone else appeared in front of her.

“Ah, Baptistine,” Headmaster Myriel of the Musain Academy for Faeries said cheerfully, removing his hood. “I had been wondering what sort of hideaway you had chosen for your eighteen-year exile. I must say though, it could use more home comforts.”

Baptistine froze, the sword drawn back but not moving, when suddenly her sword arm went slack at her side.

“Myriel?” she whispered. “Has – has it really been that long?”

“Indeed, dearest sister,” Myriel said softly. “Almost eighteen years to the day, in fact.” He gave her a moment for it to compute, then cleared his throat briskly. “Now, do put that sword away. It really wouldn’t do to have you kill the last survivor of Domino.”

The sword fell to the ground with an echoing clank, as Baptistine stared at Myriel, her eyes wide and her jaw completely slack.

“Fantine’s daughter?” she whispered. “She’s alive?”

“Indeed.” Myriel stepped aside, allowing Baptistine to return her gaze to Cosette. “Princess Euphrasie grew up as Cosette Valjean, under the care of an adoptive father on a non-magical planet called ‘Earth’. She has adapted to our world surprisingly well, and in the last three years has fought many battles worthy of her mother.”

“That’s why I had to find you,” Cosette managed, her voice a little croaky from nerves. “I’ve been looking for my mother ever since I learned she’s still out there somewhere, and I was hoping you would –”

“Now is neither the time nor place for this conversation,” Myriel interrupted softly. “You are all exhausted from the journey – which, may I add, you did not have permission to leave for –” the Amis all looked rather sheepish at this, “and I would much rather this happened in my office at Musain – with no magical powers or swords present. Baptistine, I believe it would benefit us all greatly if you were finally to agree to come out of exile.”

For the first time, a smile poked at the corners of Baptistine’s mouth. “You know, Myriel, I believe I am starting to agree with you.”

* * *

“I see Musain hasn’t changed a bit,” Baptistine said quietly, gazing out the large window of Myriel’s office. In the midday light, her elegance was more obvious – she wore a pale blue cloak over her navy dress, and her white hair was woven into an intricate yet practical roll vaguely reminiscent of Princess Leia. It was just herself, Myriel and Cosette in the office – the rest of the Amis had decided not to intrude on the meeting. “Not since I was last here about twenty years ago.” She turned away from the window and moved to one of the soft, velvet-cushioned chairs. “So, tell me, Cosette. How did you find me, and why did you seek me out at all?”

Cosette glanced at Myriel, and cleared her throat before turning back to Baptistine. “I’ve been searching for my mother since I learned of her identity. Last year, I learned that only four people witnessed her final battle. They were the three Ancestral Witches, and you. You alone know of my mother’s fate, and I hope you are more willing to tell me about it than the Witches were. But beyond that, you were one of the Nymphs of Magix, along with my mother, and the Nymphs shared an unbreakable bond that allowed them to sense each others’ presence, in order to be more connected in battle. It was Courf – my friend, Courfeyrac – who figured out how to find you. We knew you didn’t want to be found, so he wrote a computer programme to scan the topography of every planet in our dimension for highly magically protected areas that matched a certain size parameter, then cross-referenced the results with what we already knew about you. He’s kind of a genius, so it only took him three weeks.”

“He does sound like it.” Baptistine folded her hands in her lap, her face betraying nothing. “Now, while you are right that I was the only one to witness your mother’s final battle, why not search out one of the other Nymphs to use the bond? There were a great many of us.”

Cosette shook her head, managing to hold down a cough. “I did my research. There were nine Nymphs of Magix. Besides my mother, five were killed, one was tortured into insanity, and the other disappeared without a trace. That leaves you.”

“You did do the thing properly, then, didn’t you?” the old woman said begrudgingly. “Yes, Isabelle of Redemption, Harmonie of Kindness, Myriam of Unity, Adeline of Generosity and Léa of Love all died in the war against the Phoenix. Simplice of Honesty was tortured into madness by the bastard himself, a fate worse than death, and Favourite of Loyalty vanished the day before your mother did, never to be heard from again.” She paused to clear her own throat, then continued.

“I was indeed the only one present during the final battle – not only the only Nymph, but the only member of the entire Company of Light. You see, young lady, when a Faery is powerful enough, we have enough energy that we can often fight a battle without transforming. This, perhaps, was why the Witches took the opportunity they did. Fantine rarely, if ever, transformed in battle by that point, but she would need to in order to perform the spell that would imprison the Witches in Obsidian – that is, their own Dimension, a world of black rocks and nightmares come to life. She nearly had them, but needed the extra nudge transforming would give her… but they had prepared a curse, and as she transformed, they cast it.

“Fantine’s own powers turned against her, destroying her body and making her touchable to the already ghostly Witches. Her spell had been cast, but as the Dark Gate shut, they pulled her with them, and the shockwave pulled all of Domino’s people in along with her. The portal shut before I could even move to stop it.” She paused, and took a great steadying breath, her gloved hands shaking a little in her lap but stilling as she regained her composure.

“I have searched out our connection for many years,” she continued sadly, “but I have never found her. It’s not nearly as powerful as the blood connection you share with her. I’m afraid that you have already come closer to finding her than I ever will.” She paused again, looking older than ever. “I’m sorry.”

Cosette sat silently, processing this information, before at last she nodded. “Thank you for telling me this, Madame Baptistine. It… it means a lot to me that you were willing to speak to me about this.”

“It is hard,” Baptistine said quietly. “Fantine was a leader we all loved, admired, and cared deeply about. I was not as close with her as she was with Favourite, but she was a great source of inspiration and confidence to me in all the time I knew her.”

Cosette managed a shaky smile. “It’s nice to know that. Thank you, again.” She glanced over at Myriel. “Sir –”

“You may go, Cosette,” Myriel said softly. Cosette got to her feet.

“Thank you, both of you,” she repeated, and left, closing the door softly behind her. They heard her pause to cough heavily; then there was silence.

Baptistine waited for a moment, then nodded. “She’s out of earshot. Myriel…” she turned to her brother, who was pointedly looking away, “your student is not well.”

“How could you possibly know that?” Myriel murmured, but his voice gave him away. He knew it as well as she did.

“She is an Enchantix. Yet there is no one from Domino alive for her to have sacrificed herself for. Her powers are incomplete, and it is slowly killing her. She’s already coughing too much for it to be anything else.” She turned her gaze back to the window. “Her body will shut down soon; once the lightheadness starts, nothing short of a miracle will save her.”

* * *

Cosette didn’t return to her dorm when she left Headmaster Myriel and Madame Baptistine; instead, she made her way up to the castle’s battlements and sat gazing out at Roccaluce forest and beyond it, Lake Roccaluce itself. She couldn’t help but remember when she’d spoken to Fantine in its depths, and her heart felt heavy at the recollection of the simpler time when she’d believed she still had a chance of finding her.

But Fantine was locked away in a dimension of nightmares, and Cosette stood no chance of finding her – or ever saving her people.

It was time to face facts. Domino was gone forever, and there was nothing Cosette could do about it.

She heard the pattering of tiny paws coming in her direction, and smiled sadly as her pet bunny Wolter hopped up to sit next to her.

“Hey, Wolter,” she said quietly. The little chocolate brown Dutch rabbit settled into her lap, snuggling against her. “Sorry, I’m not really up for playing with you.” The rabbit fixed her with a dark brown eye, and Cosette sighed. “It’s not your fault,” she reassured him. “I just feel like all of the colour has been sucked out of the world.”

“Is that the sound of a lady in distress?”

Cosette jumped, and looked up. In spite of herself, she found herself smiling as Prince Marius guided his hoverboard of blue flames down to stand next to her.

“Anything your friendly neighbourhood Prince Charming can do to help?” he joked, offering her a hand.

Cosette accepted his help up, and Wolter scrambled out of her lap to assume Loaf Form where she’d been sitting. “Sorry Marius,” she sighed, pulling him into a hug. “I don’t think even Prince Charming can solve this one.”

Marius kissed the top of her head. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Cosette was silent for a moment. “I spoke to Baptistine today,” she admitted at last.

Marius didn’t say anything, but simply hugged her tighter, and she knew he understood by her silence that she had not got the answers she was looking for. They simply stood there, embracing on the battlement in silence, until at last Cosette pulled away.

“So, what brings you to Musain on this fine spring day?” she smiled. “I mean, besides cheering up distraught girls on roofs.”

Marius raised an eyebrow, smile still in place. “It’s the last day before spring break,” he reminded her. Cosette blinked.

“Ah. So it is.” She’d completely forgotten; as soon as Félix Tholomyès had been defeated, the Amis had embarked on their mission to track down Baptistine. Cosette had completely lost track of time.

“…And Jehan invited us to a party here,” Marius continued, when no recollection showed on Cosette’s face. It appeared now though, and she made a face. “They sent me to look for you.”

“Man, I completely forgot,” she groaned. “And everyone will be expecting me to have good news… shit.”

Marius was silent for a moment, but then took her hand, stroking it softly with his thumb. “If you want, I can go back down first and tell them not to ask about it?”

Cosette nodded immediately; she still needed time to process it, let alone tell anyone else the truth about the end of the Battle of Domino. “I just want tonight to be the same as every party we’ve ever had here – good friends, good music, and sometime around midnight, Courfeyrac crying because he’s too drunk to remember pi to a thousand digits.”

* * *

True to his word, Marius went back down to the apartment and explained that Cosette didn’t want to answer any questions about what had happened with Baptistine, and by the time she followed him down with Wolter ten minutes later they had all purged the curious looks from their faces, and the only thing she was asked upon entering was what colour of drink she wanted.

(Marius discreetly made a concerned face at how quickly she drank Grantaire’s purple concoction, but she simply shrugged at him. After all, she’d just found out her mother was most likely beyond saving and everything she’d been searching for for three years had ultimately amounted to nothing, so really, could you blame her?)

By ten o’clock, a rowdy pillow fight had broken out, and Cosette used the commotion to slip out onto the balcony and breathe. _What a day. What a week. What a **life.**_ And this was only just the start of the changes. After all, spring break was only two weeks, and after that they had just over two months left of school before graduation on June 23rd. After that, no more Musain.

Everything was going to be different.

She heard the door open and close behind her, and turned to see Marius smiling at her.

“It’s getting a little wild in there,” he said by way of explanation. “The pillow fight ended with Feuilly spinning around in your bathtub doing an impression of… I think it was Anna von Kleve, you know, the girl in that band? Anyway…”

“Yeah,” Cosette sighed, smiling a little. “I just needed some air, y’know?”

Marius’ eyes widened. “If you want, I can leave –”

“No,” Cosette said decisively. “Stay with me.”

Marius moved closer, wrapping an arm around her bare shoulders, which had formed goosepimples even in the warm late March air. Cosette immediately snuggled up to him, breathing in the way he smelled (a combination of burnt wood and soap that she found, frankly, almost indecently intoxicating) and trying to commit it to memory forever.

“I’m just afraid everything’s going to change, when we graduate,” she murmured into his chest.

Marius pulled away from her, and Cosette glanced up at him, swallowing a little at the intensity in his warm hazel eyes.

“Cosette,” he said, softly but firmly. “Les Amis are forever, and so are you and me. Nothing is going to change. I promise.” He smiled and offered her a hand, moving to hold her waist. “May I have this dance?”

Cosette couldn’t help but smile back, and took his hand in her own, her other hand sliding up to rest on his shoulder. “You may.”

The balcony was really too small for them to dance properly, so they found themselves swaying on the spot, gazing into each other’s eyes and grinning helplessly. Cosette slowly rose onto her tiptoes, dropping Marius’ hand, and she draped her arms over his shoulders as he wrapped his arms more securely around her waist. Her eyes fluttered closed…

…and then suddenly screwed up against the bright white light they were suddenly bathed in.

Marius groaned quietly, and Cosette opened her eyes to see him gazing up at something. “Ah, fuck, not now…” he muttered. She followed his gaze to see the familiar grey cuboid shape of an Eraklyon airship; as her eyes adjusted to its headlights (which were, frankly, more like _search_ lights), she could see the doors opening and a figure stepping out. On closer inspection, it was a young lady, perhaps a few years older than herself, with long black hair loose down her back. She was wearing a baggy-sleeved shirt, a blue and gold waistcoat and gloves, cream trousers, and neat black riding boots.

“Marius,” she called sharply, with all the warmth of an industrial freezer, “it’s time. Fetch your squire and get up here.”

Marius scowled. “Five minutes!”

She raised an eyebrow. “One.”

Cosette turned back to her boyfriend, confusion coming over her face. “Marius, what-?”

“Sorry, Cosette,” Marius said sadly. “My grandfather wants me home; he wants to talk to me about plans for my Crown Ball next month – and you know what he’s like about punctuality –”

“Thirty seconds!” the woman called.

Cosette nodded with a sigh. “Guess I’ll see you in two weeks then?”

“Guess so.” Marius awkwardly patted her shoulder, then opened the balcony door and headed back inside. She could hear him shouting for Grantaire to “put your shirt back on, Marianne is here for us!” and leaned against the window, the cool glass against her back feeling somewhat grounding. Because, no matter what Marius had said to make her feel better, everything _would_ change. It already _was._

The ugly cough that had plagued her all month welled up in her throat, and she had to grab the railings to keep upright. Thankfully, it had passed before the door opened again, and Marius and Grantaire emerged, Grantaire hurriedly straightening his green button-up while shouting goodbye to the apartment in what seemed to be every language of the Magic Dimension.

“Suudbia! Qaabxie! Loorreey! Dmeha!” He finished with a flourishing wave, before focussing (so hard he went a little bit cross-eyed) and creating a hoverboard of green water. “Bye, Cosette!” he said cheerfully, stepping onto it and swaying a little. “Splendiferous party!”

Cosette chuckled as Grantaire zig-zagged up to the airship, apparently somewhat accustomed to controlling a hoverboard while drunk. “I always forget how loquacious he gets when he drinks,” she chuckled.

“Marianne’s not going to be happy,” Marius agreed with a laugh. Silence fell between them once again, only this time it wasn’t comfortable; it was a horrid, awkward thing that constricted Cosette’s throat quite as badly as her cough did.

“Well… see you.”

“Yeah… see you.”

Marius formed his own hoverboard, facing up to the ship, and Cosette leaned back against the glass, but suddenly, Marius turned back around and pulled her into his arms.

As their lips met, Cosette felt some of the tightness in her chest and throat ease up, and sank happily into the kiss, but all too soon it was over, and Marius was climbing onto his hoverboard and flying up to the airship. He waved from the doors before they closed, and Cosette waved back sadly as the ship took off, the lack of its bright lights leaving the courtyard seemingly darker than ever.

Perhaps Cosette And Marius wouldn’t change, and perhaps the Amis would stay together forever, but it would still be different. They would no longer be living in the place where they’d all become friends; they would be adults, expected to get jobs or rule over kingdoms – and would Cosette even be staying here? Or would she be returning to Earth, an entire galaxy away?

No matter how strong their friendships were, it didn’t change the fact that her three years at Musain were coming to an end.

_Everything_ was about to change.


	2. In Which Perhaps Not All Is Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cosette enters the spring holidays feeling hopeless. But spring is a time of hope...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Sorry for not updating for seven months.
> 
> In my defence, I completed two other WIPs and posted a new ficlet.
> 
> But I decided to work on The Dark Gate for my November project for the Miraculous Writers' Guild - go check them out, both on AO3 and Tumblr!! So many talented writers!!
> 
> And most of all, enjoy this 7000 word chapter.

**April 1 st**

By the time Cosette woke the next day, she had missed all but Enjolras leaving. The two went down to breakfast together, and Enjolras passed along goodbyes from their friends; they talked about this and that until it was getting to a point where it would really be considered indecent to keep hanging around for much longer. Just as it was stopping being the morning and starting to really be the afternoon instead, they dragged their suitcases (and in Cosette’s case, Wolter’s basket) out past the front gates, exchanged one final hug, and Enjolras opened a portal for Cosette to go back home. As Cosette fell through the sunlit tunnel, she found her fears from the night before assuaged somewhat. No matter what happened in the future, Cosette and Enjolras would always be Cosette And Enjolras. Best friends don’t just stop being best friends, especially when they’ve been through so much together.

That was one thing she could count on to stay the same.

Cosette opened her eyes, blinking away the intense sunlight from the portal. It was strange to think that this was her last college spring break before she graduated. Wolter made himself comfortable in his basket, and together the girl and the rabbit headed down Rue des Archives to Number 40. Magix was always beautiful in the springtime – but never quite as beautiful as Paris; the white-fronted houses and pavement cafes of the Rue des Archives had this unique charm to them she hadn’t found anywhere else in the universe.

As she rang the doorbell, she took a moment to just breathe. After all, even if she was never able to free her mother, she still had a loving father who would be there no matter what. Another thing she could count on forever.

But Jean Valjean blinked in confusion as he opened the door. “Bonjour? How can I help you, mademoiselle?”

Cosette stared, her mouth dropping open. _No… he can’t have forgotten me!_ she thought in a panic – for all of two seconds, when a grin split Valjean’s face and he swept her into his arms.

“Poisson d’Avril!” he laughed. “Oh, sweetpea, for a second there you really looked like you thought I’d forgotten my own daughter!”

“You got me good, papa,” Cosette giggled, smile returning to her face as she hugged him back. Valjean moved to pet Wolter, but suddenly jumped back with a sneeze.

“Oh!” he grimaced. “I’ve been so used to having a rabbit-less house that I forgot to start taking my allergy pills again.”

Wolter gave him a sympathetic look, and hopped out of his basket to find something interesting to nibble on. Cosette frowned concernedly.

“You’ll be alright though, won’t you? You’re not going to suddenly stop breathing, right?”

Valjean shook his head with a chuckle. “Highly unlikely. But it’ll be a few weeks before I’ll be able to pet Wolter again. Still, it’s good to have the two of you home.”

Cosette smiled. “It’s good to _be_ home.”

And it was. Even when she broke a plate by accident during a surprise coughing fit. (She easily mended it with magic, but it was beginning to worry her how often her cough was coming of recent. Perhaps she should see a doctor while she was here, in case it was tonsillitis.)

(She knew at the back of her mind that it wasn’t though.)

* * *

**April 4 th**

In Valjean’s patisserie, _Monsieur Madeleine’s_ , Cosette filled in for the normal cashier (who’d had to go down to Marseille for the day) while Wolter perched in a beam of sunlight, preening every time a customer paused to admire him. Cosette was busy serving a young mother, and happened to glance over at where the little girl was watching Wolter. Incredibly, Wolter was fluttering just above her head on his little blue wings while the child watched in awe, and Cosette let out an involuntary giggle.

“Maman, maman!” the little girl chirped, turning to pull on her mother’s sleeve. “Look at the rabbit, he’s –” but to her disappointment, when her mother turned around, Wolter’s wings were gone and he was feigning sleep, stretched out on his cushion in the window. “He was flying a second ago,” the little girl insisted. Her mother chuckled.

“Is that so?”

When they left (the little girl glancing back through the window to see if Wolter would fly again) Cosette gave the rabbit a look that said _Really?,_ to which Wolter honked cheekily and licked his paws. Cosette chuckled again, and glanced at her phone.

Still no new messages.

Which was fine. Marius was a prince, after all. His grandfather was probably barely letting him out of his sight.

Still, she missed him.

* * *

**April 8 th**

Eight days. And still nothing from Marius.

It wasn’t like she was totally cut off from communication with the magical world. Enjolras constantly texted her increasingly sarcastic updates from meetings he’d been dragged into with his father; Musichetta tagged her in several photos she’d posted to _#glitter_ (the Magic Dimension’s social media app of choice); and just yesterday she’d chatted with Courfeyrac, Combeferre, and Abby (Courfeyrac’s bonded Piskie) over headsets while playing a video game, _Ace Frontier: Crystalblast_ (Cosette came firmly in last place).

But Marius would have usually called or texted before now. Even if his grandfather was being particularly insistent on having Marius around to observe royal business, he usually found time to sneak off and send her a message, even if it was just a smiley face.

Cosette had thought they were past all of those previous miscommunications, but she couldn’t help but wonder if miscommunication was simply built into their relationship. Dragon knew they’d had enough of them at the start.

She put her phone down, sighed, and coughed.

* * *

**April 11 th**

At 11.30pm, Valjean opened Cosette’s bedroom door a crack and poked his head in. “I’m not too late to say goodnight, am I?”

Cosette dropped her phone onto her bedside table and shook her head. Valjean had noticed her checking her phone more than usual, but whatever she was waiting for (and he had a good idea what it was) hadn’t arrived. “I was just about to go to sleep. G’night, papa.”

“Goodnight, sweetpea,” Valjean smiled, shutting the door. He hoped she slept well; although she didn’t seem to know it, she had a big day ahead of her tomorrow.

Cosette closed her eyes, slipping into a deep slumber.

* * *

_“Cosette!”_

_“Enjolras?” Cosette turned wildly, unable to see her friend. “Enjolras, where are you?!”_

_“Help me, Cosette! Help me!”_

_Cosette rushed towards the silhouette that had to be Enjolras, but as she reached it, it vanished into nothing._

_“Cosette! Cosette, we need your help!”_

_“Jehan?”_

_“All of us, Cosette! Please, we’re in danger!”_

_But again the silhouettes vanished as quickly as they appeared – Jehan, Éponine, Musichetta and Courfeyrac; then Combeferre and Feuilly and Bahorel and Grantaire and Joly. Cosette collapsed to her knees in despair, feeling her wings wilting on her back. She hadn’t been able to save any of them._

_“Cosette? Cosette, I’m over here!”_

_“Marius?” Unable to fly, Cosette rushed at the silhouette, snatching at the shadowy hand it stretched towards her, but again she missed, and Marius, like the others, was gone._

_“No!” she choked hoarsely. “No, don’t leave me! What’s happened? Where have you all gone? Please don’t leave me…”_

_“Sssshhhh,” someone hushed her, and Cosette blinked, realising she was staring up at her mother’s face. She was wearing a dark pink Domino mask, but was still recognisable. “It’s alright, my sweet little lark. I promise, you’re going to be alright.” Queen Fantine glanced up, and continued forwards, carrying Cosette down a corridor of some sort. She came to a stop, and Cosette could see her mother moving her arm in some kind of circular movement. She felt Fantine press a kiss to her forehead, and realised she was being set down in something that felt like it was made of magic._

_“I love you, Euphrasie,” Fantine whispered, her eyes welling with tears that she quickly wiped away. “Do not ever forget that.” And then she was swallowed up by a darkness that quickly surrounded Cosette, leaving her floating in a sea of nothing, reaching out for a mother who was long gone, and crying freely._

_Then, out of the darkness, a great dark glittering shape appeared, and Cosette took a deep breath, calming her tears. She could feel wind on her back and sand between her toes, and realised she was standing on the shore of Lake Roccaluce at night. She took a second breath, and felt her feet leave the ground – her wings were working again! Cosette looked around for the one who had called her here, and at last she saw her: Queen Fantine, pink and translucent in the returning moonlight, floating over the lake only a few metres away._

_“Please don’t give up on me, Euphrasie,” Fantine said softly. “I’m not gone, and I’m not out of reach.”_

_“Mum,” Cosette breathed. She felt choked up inside, and it wasn’t because of her cough. “Mum, why haven’t you spoken to me in so long? I didn’t mean to stop looking for so long, there was just –”_

_“That’s not what this is about,” Fantine said, sounding shocked. “Of course I’m not upset! You had other fights you needed to win; battles for the safety of our world!”_

_“Then why didn’t you dream to me in so long?”_

_“I couldn’t,” Fantine replied. “I couldn’t with them near you… Lord Méchant and Félix Tholomyès have this way of taking over one’s mind. Being so close to dark magic like that… it imbalanced the somni-communication magic I use to talk to you.”_

_“Is that why you only dreamed to me when I was on Pyros?”_

_“Yes. You were far out of their reach, and it gave me a chance to reach out to you – but you were so far away that I couldn’t stay in contact for more than a few seconds. I’m so sorry I couldn’t tell you more before now, Euphrasie.”_

_“That’s not what matters now,” Cosette decided, reaching a hand out. She could only imagine what Fantine’s fingers felt like against her own – her mother’s ghostly hand just passed right through her. “If you’re not beyond my reach, how do I find you?”_

_Fantine nodded. “Alright. Go to Domino and find the secret chamber on the Mountain of the Roc; it will open when it recognises you. In the chamber is a sacred book that is enchanted to record everything about our family and its history. It can tell you everything – what happened to me, how to find me, and everything you’ll need to free me. But be careful – if it senses the presence of one who wishes to read it for less than pure intentions, it will wipe its pages until the presence leaves.”_

_Fantine paused, and groaned quietly like she had a headache. “I’d forgotten how exhausting astral-projection is. Before I have to go, I have something for you.” She reached up and took off her mask, pushing it towards Cosette, who tried to catch it, but realised her Faery Dust bottle was opening. The mask burst into pink sparks, and settled into the little blue bottle._

_“Your mask?”_

_“I was given it when I became a Nymph. It will allow you to see Domino as I remember it before it was destroyed by the Ancestral Witches’ dark magic – and help you with more. To use it, simply hold your bottle in one hand and pass the other over your eyes.”_

_“Thank you,” Cosette murmured. She glanced up to see that Fantine was fading from view. “Goodbye…”_

_“And one more thing…” Fantine called, her voice echoing more and more. “Happy nineteenth birthday, Euphrasie.”_

* * *

Cosette blinked awake, surprised at the sunlight creeping around the edges of her pink velvet curtains. She’d practically forgotten today was her nineteenth birthday, and she’d already received the best present she could have thought of: renewed hope in her search. She stretched and piled her pillows up behind her, sitting up in bed and reaching over to turn on the little purple bedside lamp. Wolter wiggled onto his feet from where he’d been flopped in his basket and made his way over to the bed, hopping up to curl up contentedly in his mistress’ arms. He rubbed his chin against her hand as she stroked him, and Cosette pressed a kiss between his ears.

“Morning, Wolter,” Cosette smiled. “Thanks for the birthday wishes.”

There was a knock at her door, and her father poked his head into the room. “Happy birthday, Cosette,” he smiled, opening the door all the way to reveal the tray he was holding. “Breakfast in bed sound good?”

“Breakfast in bed sounds amazing!” Cosette beamed, folding the covers back. Valjean handed her the tray, on which there were two pain-au-chocolate, a mug of coffee, and a little bowl of chopped Dragonfruit – plus some spinach and carrots for Wolter to enjoy. “This all looks delicious! Thank you, Papa!”

Valjean drew the curtains, letting the sun stream into the room. “Eat up, then put on something nice – I’ve got a surprise waiting for you downstairs.” He kissed the top of her head and left, closing the door behind him. Cosette grinned at Wolter, and moved the salad closer to him before tucking into her own breakfast.

* * *

With breakfast finished, Cosette got ready for the day. Her father always made birthdays amazing; but there was never any way of predicting what surprise he had in store that year, so she chose a pink sundress and her favourite pink converse. Scooping Wolter under one arm and balancing the tray precariously on the other, she made her way downstairs.

Valjean was waiting in front of the living room door with an anticipative grin, and Cosette attempted to peek over his shoulder as she headed into the kitchen, but to no avail since the door was shut tight. She let Wolter down and hurried to wash her dishes, before heading back into the hallway, wondering what could be waiting in the living room.

Valjean didn’t say anything, but simply smiled and pushed the door open, stepping to one side to reveal:

…a darkened room. The lights were all off and the blinds were still down, and Cosette couldn’t even make out a single silhouette. She squinted hard – then suddenly the lights snapped on, and she shrieked in delighted shock as she saw who filled the room.

“SURPRISE!”

Enjolras, Jehan, Courfeyrac, Musichetta, Éponine, Grantaire, Bahorel, Feuilly, Joly, Combeferre – and right in the centre, sandwiched between Enjolras and Jehan, was Marius.

Cosette rushed into the centre of an enormous group hug, giggling breathlessly. “I can’t believe you guys came all the way to another galaxy just to surprise me for my birthday!” she squealed.

Valjean leaned against the doorway with a grin. “As much as I’d love to take credit for this, it was Marius’ idea.”

The group released her, and Cosette turned to her boyfriend, who was wearing a loving smile. “You organised everyone?” she asked, her voice almost trembling with happiness.

Marius nodded, his smile widening. “This year’s sucked. A lot. I figured you could use a good surprise for once.”

Cosette pulled him into a tight hug, rising up onto her tiptoes to kiss his cheek as he hugged her back. “And here I was, thinking my day couldn’t get any better,” she giggled softly.

“Why?” Musichetta grinned curiously. “What already happened today?” She squeezed onto the sofa between Jehan and Joly. Bahorel sat next to Joly, Éponine and Feuilly perched on the armrests, Courfeyrac, Combeferre and Grantaire crammed onto the loveseat, and Enjolras took one of the armchairs. Marius sat in the other armchair, and pulled Cosette down so they were sharing it, making her laugh happily again.

“I’ll tell you later,” Cosette grinned. She leaned her head against Marius’ shoulder, all her recent worries about their relationship fading from her mind. “First I want to know what everyone’s been up to!”

Even though social media had kept her informed on the most exciting of her friends’ daily doings, it was wonderful to hear it in person. Cosette couldn’t help the happy hopefulness that bubbled up inside her as her friends told her about their holidays. Indeed, as Joly told her about his disastrous attempt to score tickets to a Ziggy Stardust concert and his relief when Musichetta had revealed she’d already bought them, and as Éponine and Bahorel attempted to relate the tale of how Gavroche had gotten them and Azelma banned from a restaurant in Arioson without breaking down in uncontrollable laughter (they failed), it almost felt like a sign from the universe that things wouldn’t simply be over after graduation.

As Bahorel caught his breath (Éponine had had to take over telling the story when Bahorel surpassed laughter and went straight into silent wheezing), Enjolras turned to Cosette with a smile. “So, Cosette, how should we spend today?”

Cosette blinked, still giggling slightly at how Éponine’s story had ended. “There isn’t a plan?”

“There is,” Jehan shrugged cheerfully. “Sorta. Whatever you want to do, we’re down.”

“Although, I would prefer if it didn’t involve fighting another former minion of the Ancestral Witches, or some other terrifying creature of universal doom,” Courfeyrac added with a raised eyebrow. “I’ve had enough of those for a lifetime.”

Valjean poked his head into the room again. “I’ve got some errands to run, but if you need a lift anywhere I have the delivery van.”

Cosette felt her grin spread over her face until it almost hurt. “Actually, I think I have a really good idea for how I want to spend my birthday.”

Her friends blinked at her, and Courfeyrac raised both eyebrows, looking slightly concerned. “Why do you suddenly look like a crazy person?”

Cosette giggled manically. “Because last night I had a crazy dream, that’s given me a crazy idea. Who’s up for a day trip to Domino?”

Valjean blinked slowly. “Uh, I think you guys will have to figure out your own transport.”

* * *

In the centre of a dark cavern, many dimensions away from the warmth of the birthday party, amidst the crawling and buzzing and clicking of the millions of insects that clung to its walls, an enormous cocoon dripped slime down from the ceiling. If you’d been brave enough (or rather, foolhardy enough) to approach it, you would have seen, through the green-tinted transparent layers, a human-ish figure within, apparently sleeping upside-down. If you’d looked closer, however, you would have seen how its skin was pale green, its arms ended in gigantic pincers instead of hands, and its mouth, which was slightly open, was full of sharp fangs. There was something extremely otherworldly about the being, underlined when it opened its eyes revealing no sclera or iris, but instead thousands of pupils like those of an insect. The cocoon began dripping faster, and soon it was not just excess falling off but the entire structure slowly cracking open. Finally, with a resonant, gooey noise, the cocoon fell clean away from the creature, and it simply hung from the ceiling on its own.

If you’d had the stomach to continue watching after this disturbing hatching, you would have seen the way the being’s eyes, with their thousands of flickering pupils, appeared to become unfocussed as it stared into the distance at something only visible to itself, and you would have heard its high, rasping voice as it spoke to someone only it could hear.

“Finally, Mistresses,” she (for it was a she) spoke, “I am ready. Eighteen years trapped by Félix Tholomyès, and two more months to regain my strength, and I am once again prepared to serve you.”

 _Excellent,_ three voices chorused in her head. _We must say, we were wondering where you’d been for these past few months – when Tholomyès was stripped of nearly everything, and you did not return to us, we wondered if he’d managed to keep you trapped, or if you had become a coward and betrayed us._

“Not I, Mistresses,” the creature whispered, voice tinged with excitement. All around her, the insects that coated the walls began buzzing with more fervour, sensing that something was afoot. “Tholomyès’ spell broke when he was stripped of his stolen magic, but I knew I needed time before I would be a suitable servant once again. He weakened me, but now I am revived, and ready to serve once more…”

 _Then serve us you shall,_ her Mistresses spoke. _Find the Obsidian Gate on Domino, and release us from this hellish place so we may conquer the Magical Dimension once and for all. Rise, Venefica, Mistress of Insects, the only Witch truly worthy of serving us, and do whatever it takes to finally free us…_

* * *

“So, where on Domino did your mum say this sacred book’s magical chamber was hidden?”

Cosette spun her seat around to face Combeferre, who was setting up the navigation system. “She said it was on something called ‘the Mountain of the Roc’.”

Combeferre _hmm_ ed and began tapping things on his screen. She thought she heard him mutter something about cross-referencing ‘Domino’, ‘Roc’ and ‘Mountains’ before her attention was caught by Bahorel, who had hefted a box out of the back of the Hawk airship and was opening it up. “Remind me why you wanted these emergency grow-to-fit snowsuits?”

“Man, I forgot you missed out on that particular little adventure two years ago,” Éponine grinned. Bahorel stuck his tongue out at her.

“Domino didn’t exactly have a summer climate when we visited,” Jehan chuckled. “It’s basically a layer of snow with a layer of ice under it, and under _that_ is a layer of frozen ash, and under _that_ is presumably another few layers of nasty death-portal fall-out, and then finally all the way at the bottom is what’s actually left of Domino.”

“Which, if what Baptistine said is true, isn’t much,” Cosette added. “Everywhere you look, it’s basically just Abandoned Death World…” she trailed off, remembering what else Fantine had given her besides new hope. _It will allow you to see Domino as I remember it…_

Grantaire glanced over his shoulder from where he was steering. “Hey, guys, we’re about to enter Domino’s atmosphere – and if I remember correctly, there’s no phone signal down there.”

“No signal?” Courfeyrac frowned. “But I was able to use my techno-maps fine last time.”

“Probably because you generated it yourself,” Combeferre pointed out absently as he copied the information from his screen to a notebook. “Your own systems don’t rely on the internet to work. But your phone on the other hand…” Courfeyrac’s eyes widened, and he hurried to check his phone, as did everyone else.

Cosette opened her messaging app, which was lit up with one new message: three pictures from her dad and Wolter. The first showed Valjean with Wolter perched in one hand, the second Wolter gazing worriedly at Valjean, who looked like he was about to sneeze, and the third only showed Wolter’s hind legs as he leapt away from the blur that was clearly Valjean’s allergies getting the better of him. The photoset was captioned, _Remind me never to use multi-shot when there’s a risk of me sneezing. Happy birthday from both of us!! Wolter says to stay safe xx_

Cosette chuckled and sent back several heart emojis. They went through just in time; a second after they were marked sent, the signal on her phone cut out completely.

“Welcome to Domino,” Grantaire said mock-cheerfully. “If you look out the window on your left, you’ll see two lovely snowdrifts, and if you look to your right, you’ll see Courfeyrac’s betrayed expression as his data craps out.”

* * *

Hiking through the waist-high snow was just as hard as Cosette remembered from their last trip to Domino – and from the expression on some faces, she reckoned she should have probably emphasized the whole ‘Hell Planet’ thing a whole lot more. At least there didn’t seem to be any ice-crabs in the vicinity this time around.

They had been at it for about ten minutes into a wind that was against them, when Combeferre, in the lead with his scribbled map, came to a halt. This inspired a fair few complaints from those not accustomed to colder weather (namely, Enjolras, Feuilly and Bahorel), the earthier of which involved certain body parts freezing off, but the bespectacled Wizard simply shrugged apologetically.

“Sorry, guys. My research only gave me the triangulation of the area where the Mountain of the Roc is most likely to be. It’s the centremost peak of the Dragon’s Spines, but since the Dragon’s Spines stretch three-hundred-and-eighty miles from the capital at Talin to the mouth of the Dominoan sea, I can’t tell which one is the one we’re looking for – especially in this snow.” He pointed ahead, and everyone squinted through the snow. Indeed, there were mountains rising up before them, starting perhaps two hundred paces away, but through the snow and against the grey sky, it was impossible to tell where one ended and the next began.

_It will allow you to see Domino as I remember it before it was destroyed by the Ancestral Witches’ dark magic – and help you with more._

Cosette gnawed her lip in thought. _Help you with more…_ it was worth a shot. Reaching down the neck of her snowsuit, she pulled out her Faery Dust bottle. Holding it tightly in her left hand, she closed her eyes and passed her right hand over her face, just as Fantine had said. Then she took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

She gasped.

The entire landscape had been transformed: green fields rolled out as far as the eye could see, with red flowers tipped with gold here and there that she remembered to be Fire Lilies. If she looked to her left she saw the shimmering pink roofs of a far-off hamlet; and stretching up into a clear blue sky were the Dragon’s Spines, the Mountain of the Roc easily distinguishable as the tallest of all, with a distinctive hooked top that glistened golden in the sun.

“Guys,” she said over Joly nervously asking how quickly frostbite sets in, “I think I know which mountain we’re looking for.”

* * *

“Your mum has great taste in birthday gifts,” Enjolras panted, trying to get a foothold, “but I would have preferred crampons.”

“Stop complaining, Enjolras,” Courfeyrac laughed from twenty feet above him. “This is great! Way better than standing around for hours at a ball or something.”

“How are you that far up already?” Grantaire groaned, ten feet below Courfeyrac. “Corinthe actually offers a rock-climbing class, but you’ve got all of us beat!”

“Zenith snows three months of the year and hails the other nine,” Courfeyrac said cheerfully. “One of my chores is to climb up the roof and sort the Magi-net aerial every time an ice-crab or a malfunctioning drone knocks it out of place. Climbing upwards in a blizzard is kind of my secret talent.”

Combeferre squinted up at his boyfriend, an awed look on his face. “How do you keep getting more attractive?” he smiled, a laugh in his voice.

Courfeyrac blushed and opened his mouth to answer, a grin playing around his mouth, but was interrupted when the mountain suddenly juddered. He froze, as did most of the others, but Bahorel narrowed his eyes.

“Get back down,” he said sharply, pushing away from the rock and expertly jumping back down to the ground twenty-five feet below him. “Something’s wrong.”

“Is it an avalanche?” Enjolras asked nervously, hurriedly climbing back down, followed by Éponine and Jehan. “Couldn’t you and Grantaire stop it with your powers?”

Bahorel shook his head, looking grim. “I could if it was real rock.”

Cosette, Musichetta and the Wizards reached the ground just as the mountain gave a sharp judder, but above them, Courfeyrac still hadn’t moved, frozen in place. “What do you mean, it’s not real rock?” he demanded. “It’s literally called ‘the Mountain of the Roc’!”

But his question was answered for him when the mountain gave a final massive judder, and spread its wings.

Cosette’s face had gone slack. “Oh no,” she whispered. The mountain was not made of rock – it was a Roc, as in the enormous bird of ancient Arabic legend. Cosette instinctively passed her hand over her face again, the mask allowing her to look up without squinting through the blizzard, and saw, hundreds of feet above her, the curved point of the mountain turning to glare down at those who had dared to disturb it.

“Trust my mum to not mention the one crucial thing that could stand between us and grizzly death,” she murmured. “Courf, get down from there! NOW!”

Courfeyrac made to start climbing back down, but he was too late. The Roc’s wings had reached their full span, and with a great flap that sounded like a crack of lightning, it took off, Courfeyrac still clinging to its underbelly and looking both terrified and furious.

“OH, _COME ON!”_ he yelled, and Cosette guiltily remembered his request to avoid fighting monsters today.

Combeferre’s face was pale. “Come on!” he said urgently. “If we run back to the ship now, we can still catch up to it!” But Cosette shook her head.

“No,” she said, not sure what she was saying but knowing she was right, like someone else was speaking through her mouth. “No, we’ll never catch it if we go back, and the ship following it might make it angrier. I have a plan.” _It will open when it recognises you._

“Cosette,” Enjolras said in a warning tone, “you’d better not be thinking what I think you’re thinking –”

Too late; Cosette had already transformed and taken off, her great golden Dragon forming around her and increasing her speed so that even if they’d taken off that instant, none of the Faeries would have been able to catch up to her. Enjolras pursed his lips.

“The more often I see her do that, the more I wonder if she has a death wish.”

* * *

With the help of her Dragon, Cosette easily caught up to Courfeyrac, who was clinging white-knuckled to the bird’s belly but greeted her with a casual “Hey.”

“Hey,” Cosette replied, fighting the urge to chuckle.

“So,” Courfeyrac said conversationally, but his pale face and too-wide eyes betrayed his terror. “Is there a plan here, or do I just keep clinging to this over-sized pigeon until my fingers go numb and I fall off?”

“You could transform, you know,” Cosette pointed out, but he shook his head.

“And let this thing know I’m here? I’d rather kiss an ice-crab. With tongue. It would be less painful.”

“Relax, Courf,” Cosette grinned. “I do actually have a plan. Just keep holding on.” She sped up, shooting forwards so she could look the bird in the eye; she heard Courfeyrac’s voice echoing after her.

“IF I DIE, COSETTE, I WILL HAUNT YOU FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!”

Cosette huffed a laugh, but quickly straightened her expression as she became level with the bird’s eye and then its beak. To Courfeyrac’s shock, however, she didn’t stop there, but instead pushed forwards until she was nearly ten metres in front of it – then pulled to a halt directly in the Roc’s path.

_Is she out of her mind?!_

Cosette hovered in mid-air for a second before turning to face the bird, staring it right in the face.

_She is._

“STOP RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!” Cosette bellowed, and Courfeyrac closed his eyes, terrified he was about to have a front-row-seat to the Roc biting his friend clean in half – but suddenly the bird stopped, hovering as it faced down the tiny girl glaring at it.

“I am Princess Euphrasie,” Cosette said firmly, “daughter of Queen Fantine, last survivor of Domino and heir to the throne, and I command you to stop at once!”

The Roc gave a loud squawk that made the sky rattle, but it didn’t sound angry. In fact, if Courfeyrac hadn’t known better, he would have thought it sounded almost ashamed. To his amazement, he heard Cosette suddenly cooing.

“Awww, shhh, shhh, it’s ok, you didn’t know! Now, can you put my friend down?”

The bird squawked again, this time sounding irritated.

“He didn’t know he was climbing on you,” Cosette replied, inexplicably. “Put him down. Don’t give me that pouty face!” she added sternly. “It was an accident. Now, put him down. I want to enter the library.”

Another squawk.

“No,” Cosette said, still firm. “No, they’re all coming in with me. They’re very nice and they would have never climbed on you if they knew you wouldn’t like it.”

The Roc gave a final squawk, sounding a little grumpy, but it seemed to have come around to Cosette’s point of view, and Courfeyrac clung on tighter than ever as they turned and descended back down to the gigantic dent in the ground that marked where the mountain had been. Courfeyrac squinted at it as they came closer, and realised it was full of what looked like giant twigs and bits of straw, like a real nest. When the ground got so close that he could make out his friends’ expressions, he braced himself for impact, but the bird stopped and hovered just above the ground, and he was able to let go and jump down as easily as if he was dismounting the monkey bars on a children’s playground.

He was met with another enormous group hug from his relieved friends; when they pulled away from him (except Combeferre, who showed no signs of letting go any time soon) he turned to Cosette, who had released her transformation and was being supported by Marius, having apparently had another one of her surprise coughing fits.

“Cosette,” he said, a little shakily, “how did you understand what the bird was saying?”

Cosette frowned. “What do you mean? She was speaking perfect English.”

“No,” Courfeyrac raised an eyebrow. “No, she wasn’t. She was squawking, like a normal bird – how did you know it was a she?”

Cosette shrugged, frowning. “She told me so. You mean, you really couldn’t understand a word she said?”

“Of course not!”

Musichetta stepped between them. “Maybe it’s part of the magic of Domino’s royal family,” she suggested. “I know there are places and things on Andros that only members of my family could ever hope to understand – it’s something to do with bloodline magic.”

“Whatever it was,” Joly said, gazing apprehensively up at the Roc, “it seems to have worked.” Everyone followed his gaze, and to their amazement, the Roc had stretched out one magnificent wing towards them. Enjolras squinted up at the top of the wing, and his jaw dropped – there, perched on the Roc’s back, was a white single-story building with a golden domed roof.

“No way,” he murmured, more out of excitement than disbelief. Cosette simply grinned, and together, the Amis began the hike up the wing of the giant bird of legend towards the library of legend that sat on its back.

No one noticed a tiny black insect buzzing after them.

* * *

The library sat on top of the smooth, rock-like feathers; it was a cylindrical building with walls so white they made the snow below appear grey, and great gleaming windows all around the sides. The door was the same bright gold as the roof, and despite having been abandoned in a never-ending snowstorm for eighteen years, when Cosette touched the handle it clicked open as easily as if it had just been oiled that morning. The inside was as beautiful as the outside: lush red walls and velvet carpets furnishing a hallway that curved around both ways, clearly looping around a central room. The windows had a magnificent view out over the snowy landscape; they were high enough that they could, for once, see the horizon in the distance (not that the sky was much nicer than the land), and following the hallway round to the left, they came to a second golden door precisely half-way round. Cosette took a deep breath, for this door led in to the inner chamber – and the answers she’d been looking for. With a glance at her friends, who all nodded encouragingly, she put her hand on the doorknob.

It clicked open as easily as the first door, and Cosette pushed it open, gazing into the room and feeling butterflies rioting in her chest.

And then, she gasped. It was _beautiful._

A great golden tapestry spanned the walls, seemingly depicting the Dragon bringing the universe into existence before settling down to rest on Domino. The marble floor showed a gigantic circular map of Domino, with all the cities, towns, villages and hamlets labelled in sparkling silver script. And in the centre of the room, atop a bronze pedestal, was the enormous Book her mother had told her of. Bound in red leather, with gold-edged pages and golden letters spelling out the words, ‘The Sacred Book of Domino’, it seemed to fill the entire structure with warmth. The closer Cosette got to it, she could feel a low pulse of magic washing over her, and she knew it must be almost as ancient as the Dragon itself.

“Well, go on, then,” Éponine said, and Cosette realised she’d just been staring at the book in reverence. “Open it!”

Cosette reached out a shaky hand and flipped open the book to the contents page. The gold lettering at the top read: _The Entire History of the Rulers of Domino._ There followed a list of what appeared to be chapters: one for each ruler detailing the way they had led Domino, protected its people, and any significant events that occurred during their reign. Cosette scanned down the list, barely hearing her friends chattering behind her as they recognised various names.

“Blodwyn the Brave – of course, she was the first Faery ever!”

“And look – there’s King Orin’s chapter, I bet there’s loads of interesting stuff in there about the Union of the Eleven Planets…”

“Katerin the Beautiful, didn’t she become queen at only seventeen years old? I remember something about how she nearly abdicated because of the stress…”

But Cosette only had eyes for the final chapter: _Fantine, Supreme Nymph of Magix_. Acting on instinct, she tapped the name with a finger, then found herself jumping back onto Joly’s foot when the book promptly flipped to the beginning of the chapter. To her surprise, it was only just over halfway through the book.

She glanced at Marius, who gave her an encouraging nod, and turned back to the book. There was a second, smaller index below the chapter title, which read as follows:

**_Birth and childhood_ **

**_Education_ **

**_Death of Queen Posetine and King Darilius_ **

**_Coronation_ **

**_Magical Research_ **

**_Félix Tholomyès_ **

**_Birth of Euphrasie_ **

**_The Founding of the Company of Light_ **

**_The Great War_ **

**_The Battle of Domino_ **

**_Obsidian_ **

As curious as Cosette was to immediately turn to ‘Obsidian’, she instead tapped ‘The Battle of Domino’, and once again the book flipped to the correct page.

“This is it,” she muttered. “No going back.” And she began to read.

_When Fantine realised that the three Ancestral Witches were seeking the Dragon Flame and its powers, she decided to protect Euphrasie, in whom the power now resided, by sending her to a dimension that had been far removed from any magic for hundreds of years. No sooner had the portal closed, than Tholomyès tracked Fantine to the throne room of the palace and engaged her in a duel. Knowing Tholomyès’ proclivity for recognising magical residue, and that he might recognise the magical footprint that she had left creating the portal, she cast a Transportus spell on both herself and the Warlock, transporting them to the uninhabited Plains of Fire – known for their red soil and lack of plant life. There she engaged him in a fierce duel, one she easily won._

_It has been pondered by many of the High Council of Magix why Fantine chose to imprison Tholomyès in ice and send him to the Omega Dimension rather than killing him; the nature of the relationship between Fantine and Félix Tholomyès –_

Cosette skipped ahead; she knew she did not want to read anything more about Tholomyès. His short presence in her own life had been enough for a thousand lifetimes. She scanned, not really taking anything in until she noticed the word ‘Obsidian’, and hurried back to the start of the paragraph that mentioned it.

_Fantine decided that since the three Ancestral Witches were no longer either mortal or even human, the only way to defeat them was to seal them back into the dimension from whence they came, Obsidian – the physical manifestation of the shadowy place in the universe where the Shadow Phoenix himself was brought into existence. Her first task was to find the portal into Obsidian; she learned the ancient spell that allows physical gateways to appear elsewhere from where they were created (the details of this spell are kept in the Wrath Chamber in the vault of Votirlu School for Witches and are not permitted to be included in this book)._

Cosette had a fleeting memory of a door glowing red that led into a vast, dark library; she put it out of her mind and continued to read.

_Fantine chose to open the Obsidian portal on Domino itself, in the theory that the creative magic of the Dragon might counteract any destructive magic that may be released when it opened. She then travelled to the edge of the Barrier Mountains and found the Hall of Keys, an ancient pocket dimension that contains a way to open and close every door in the Universe, in which she gained the key and incantations which would open and close the Obsidian portal._

Everyone jumped as something thumped outside the room; Cosette spun for the door, ready to fight, but Feuilly shook his head.

“Keep reading,” he insisted. “I’ll check what it was. Maybe the wind blew the door open.”

Cosette nodded, lowering her fists. The other Wizards frowned, but Feuilly shook his head again. “It’s probably nothing,” he said firmly. “I’ll check it out, and I’ll come right back.” He squeezed Jehan’s hand reassuringly, and headed back into the hallway. Cosette turned back to the book and hungrily continued to read.

* * *

Feuilly summoned a tendril of sunlight and wrapped it around his fist in preparation. He doubted the thump had been made by anything of significance, but all the same, he wasn’t about to risk a stray ice-crab sneaking up on them. There weren’t any threats visible through the window, which was good, because it suggested that even if there was an ice-crab, it was alone. He was careful not to make any noise as he headed down the hallway – on the side they hadn’t come from – and soon reached the front door, which was tight-shut, the way they’d left it. Ice-crabs can’t – and generally don’t – close doors, he was certain of that. He quickly opened the door and glanced out, confirming there wasn’t one trying to get in by flinging itself at the walls either. Everything seemed normal – the thump was probably just the wind, he decided, or else the Roc going about its day. Nothing to be afraid of. He turned to head back to the chamber.

And then he felt the tiniest of stings on his cheek.

* * *

_Fantine’s final preparation was to meditate. It has been mentioned before that each wielder of the Dragon Flame has their own Dragon, a sentient being that lives in their very soul and rises to give advice and assistance when most needed, and continues to do so even after the Flame has been passed on. She knew she may need a way to protect her people if things did not go as planned –_

Cosette gasped – not at the next sentence, but because the pages were rapidly going blank. She remembered Fantine’s warning: _if it senses the presence of one who wishes to read it for less than pure intentions, it will wipe its pages until the presence leaves._

“There’s something here,” she whispered, but immediately forgot it as Feuilly stumbled back through the doorway, swaying dangerously, his pupils huge.

“It hurts,” he mumbled.

And then he fainted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun DUN

**Author's Note:**

> Please Kudos/comment!!!! I love you!!!


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